it's like .. a mallu christian named Jose Jacob (darker than P.T. Usha) visiting Hariwdwar was knifed by pickpockets when he tried to resist being mugged.. Delhi's English media wrote national headlines.. "Christian man attacked in Hindu Holy city"

Their Convent school syndicate won't even allow a couple days off on Hindu festival of Diwali.. no holiday on rakhi either. But what to say Hindus are the biggest hypocrites.. we still long for convent education.

I typed a longish answer but it all got wiped. It is a pain replying on mobile. That pertained to ither possibilities in 90s. Will revisit that later.

The senile guy was once the boss of KPS Gill. He seems to have list it after 2014. Other intolerance brigade guys* are good for nothing jholawalas. This guy had actually done done action, but sadly has gone that way, probably influenced by others in his church.

* there are females too, but Girl or lady sound too respectful for Barkha Dutt, etc.

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This is quite a game, politics. There are no permanent enemies, and no permanent friends,only permanent interests. - Some Firang

it's like .. a mallu christian named Jose Jacob (darker than P.T. Usha) visiting Hariwdwar was knifed by pickpockets when he tried to resist being mugged.. Delhi's English media wrote national headlines.. "Christian man attacked in Hindu Holy city"

i once had a christian compounder , seventeen years of age . used to wear sexy clothes by indian standards at least . miniskirts shorts etc . she had a boyfriend ( a UPiite hindu ) and they used to smooch in my clinic before i came . many times i used to enter my clinic to the sight of them smooching , and then they would hastily separate with the boy making a quick exit .

i never opposed this because i have the heart of a liberal . in fact i was quite happy at the sight of young couple making out together . but alas...the world around was not so liberal---this is india i am talking about , mired in backwardness . the people from neighbouring shops began to complain to me that she was bringing my clinic in disrepute by her acts and she must be kicked out from her job . threatened to bring up the matter to the secretary of the building that my clinic is situated in ; secretary is the guy who collects the maintainance charge of the properties in the building .

with a heavy heart i had to say goodbye to my christian compounder . like john lennon i wonder why people oppose when couples make love but do nothing when violence occurs ; for example , a man beating his wife . why ? why ?

This is surely a figment of your imagination. There is no evidence of this in the Laal Mirchi section

__________________Nietzsche (1887) : God is deadGod (1900) : Nietzsche is dead -----------------------------------------
I will not be hurried and I will not be bullied

This was my second attempt to review a Dia Mirza movie , and any review by me of a Dia Mirza movie is a labour of love....The movie starts awkwardly , but soon gets a grip as it progresses .

Kishen ( Jimmy Shergill ) comes from rural state of Bihar to the big city to study medicine . In the medical college he runs into Reena Brown ( Diya Mirza ) , who is a Christian and is beautiful and sophisticated and speaks english very well . She looks down upon Kishen as a rural bumpkin and the two are at loggerheads on several occasions . Reason is that Kishen speaks the hindi language in a rural style , and Reena feels that his English must be even worse . Reena has a boyfriend named John Clayton , and he is more understanding towards Kishen . But Reena tries to make her boyfriend play the game of one-upmanship with Kishen , but totally fails . In the college football game she tries to encourage John to score a goal in opposition to Kishen , but John gets injured instead letting Kishen the chance to score the goal . Reena organises a party where Kishen is not invited , but Kishen disturbs it by singing loudly outside it .

One thing that all this proves is that Kishen is talented in both sports and singing and his popularity rises in the college . Kishen pokes Reena by calling her 'memsaab' ( madam ) , thus making fun of the perceived difference between their status . When John opts out of playing Othello in a college play , it is to Kishen that everyone turns to play that role . Reena is to play Desdemona opposite Othello and detests the idea of Kishen touching her during the play . But Kishen surprises her by playing the role of Othello with aplomb and speaking perfect English while playing it . She is so impressed by his acting and his command over English that she herself touches him during the play and holds his hand in the climax .

Soon Reena and Kishen begin to hang out together and become friends . But Reena's personal life suddenly goes topsy turvy with her boyfriend John ( whom she is hoping to marry ) coming under the pressure of his father to marry Emily who has come from England . John does deeply regret not being able to marry Reena , and is hardly able to blurt out his refusal to her .

Kishen who is attracted to Reena from the start however takes to opportunity to woo her by being the person who comforts her in the midst of her heartbreak . And Reena soon turns to him to soothe her aching heart . She finds Kishen to be jovial and boisterous in nature , with passionate views on some subjects . Reena starts missing him if he does not come to the college on a day and goes searching for him to his hostel . And she takes the lead in proposing marriage to him....love is in the air again for her . The two go on dates together and dream of life in each other's arms .

The issue of their different religions does come up , but Kishen allays Reena's fears by saying that he is an atheist who does not believe in God and will not try to change her religion . They meet her father James ( Anupam Kher ) , who gives his blessings to the marriage . The couple decide to wear each other's religion's clothes for the impending court marriage . And I must say that Jimmy Shergill looks good in dark tie and suit , a far cry from the country bumpkin he started as in the movie . And Dia Mirza in saree looks simply divine....why is it that I was not in that dark tie and suit in Jimmy Shergill's shoes to serenade my darling Dia....?? why ??

But what is a movie without a twist , and the twist comes in due form with Kishen's father Pandit ( Govind Namdeo ) coming from his village to oppose the marriage . He is too conservative to accept a Christian daughter in law , and plainly tells Reena that he will cut off all relations with his son if he marries her . He says that she will be responsible for the breaking of relations between parents and son , and that no hindu will marry Kishen's sister if he marries a Christian girl . He berates Reena's father James for accepting the marriage and James decides to cut off the marriage plans . Reena comes under pressure to cut off the marriage and she has to tell Kishen that he cannot be her husband . Kishen tries to reason with her but in vain .

Devastated by all this , Kishen forsakes his family and goes away to find peace in a small town where both communities live in harmony ; Christians worship hindu saints and hindus go to Christian priests when someone is not well . He starts a clinic there and practices as a doctor . But on his table is a still a photo of Dia Mirza....uh , I mean Reena . Many years pass and one day Reena comes searching for him in a completely drunken state .

She tells him her story . After she tried to reason with her father James to agree to the marriage inspite of Kishen's father's opposition , James told her in a fit of anger that he did not want her anymore because she was brining too much trouble in his life . That she was actually not his legitimate daughter but rather his illegitimate child born of his affair with his maid , the same maid played by Zarina Wahab who had been taking care of the house all these years . The maid is hindu and he has not married her , nor has Reena been baptized . So Reena is neither hindu nor Christian . He then told the mother and daughter to get out of his life . Reena was forced to leave his house and sing in bars and nightclubs wearing exposing clothes and with patrons making advances towards her . She who was once totally against smoking and drinking had now developed habits of heavy drinking and incessant smoking to ward off depression .

But the real depression she had was of having ruined a good man's life....Kishen's who else....for she wanted to see him practice as a doctor in some big city and earn real money rather than waste his life in some small clinic in some small town . And here she is....standing in front of Kishen asking his forgiveness for ruining his life and his career and offering financial help to help him shift back to the big city , for her father James deeply regretted his treatment of his daughter at the end of his life and willed her all his estate and money .

But lo !! Reena is the one who gets helped instead . For Kishen has his own story to tell , of his sister marrying outside their caste and finally bringing his father Pandit out of his religious stupor . And the father contacting him asking to bring Reena as his daughter in law because he can't bear to not be with his son , and can't bear to see his son permanently unhappy and unmarried without Reena . And Kishen is willing to accept Reena even though she has had an unsavoury past and he is willing to be patient till she weans herself off her heavy smoking and drinking habits and does not care if she is an illegitimate child of a servant woman who does know if she is hindu or Christian....for he who was once an atheist has begun to believe in the kind of God that does not reside in temples or churches but instead resides in the hearts of true believers....and believers are those who forgive sins and serve others without caring for their faith .

True love never dies....and for Reena and Kishen , the long wait called prateeksha is truly over . And the long wait called prateeksha was over for me too , of seeing and reviewing a good film of Dia Mirza . For the climax of the movie filled me with emotion . Acting in the film was decent , and colours and photography was not bad too . Background music and songs were okay .

It was nice to see an interreligious love story come to a happy ending . Seen too many such love stories end up not so happy in real life , crushed as they were by the burden of tradition and the ancient religious codes of the land .